Namaste
Hospice’s hospice program has two ingredients:
- The “thing component”,consisting of medication, durable medical equipment and any other supplies
related to palliation of the terminal illness, and;
- The “people component", which includes the patient, his or her family, and their Interdisciplinary Team
of hospice professionals.
A team of experts make up an Interdisciplinary Team, or IDT. IDT members include:
- The patient’s primary care physician
- The Namaste medical director
- Licensed Registered Nurses
- Certified Nurse’s Assistants
- Social Workers
- Chaplains
- Volunteers
The IDT focuses on the patient and family. Immediately
after sign on, a Plan of Care is developed using the goals of the patient and
family and the professional skills of the IDT members. The IDT then meets every
two weeks to review and update that specific patient’s Plan of Care. While team
members have expertise in hospice and palliative care, they are not the experts
about any individual situation. The only experts are the patient and family.
They are in charge of determining how their care is planned.
Hospice
services are provided in the place the patient resides (wherever that is) on a
scheduled basis, and the IDT is available 24 hours a day. Other professionals
are available when requested, including physical, occupational and speech
therapists, infusion therapy specialists and pharmacy consultants. Volunteers
also provide alternative and healing arts methods of managing pain and
enhancing quality of life.
